NYPD Officer Shoots And Kills Unarmed Man, 28 y-o Akai Burley In Brooklyn

 Posted: 11/21/2014 11:46 am EST 

The fatal police shooting of an unarmed man in Brooklyn Thursday night appears to have been an "unfortunate tragedy," New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton said Friday.

Akai Burley was unarmed when
 he was fatally shot.

The victim, Akai Gurley, 28, had spent the evening at his girlfriend’s apartment inside the Louis Pink housing projects, Bratton told reporters at a press conference. The couple left the seventh floor apartment around 11:15 p.m. and tried to take an elevator down to the bottom floor. When the elevator wouldn’t work, they entered the stairwell.

Two officers, meanwhile, were conducting a vertical patrol -- also known as a top to bottom patrol -- inside the building. Upon entering the "dark" stairwell on the eighth floor, Bratton said, Officer Peter Liang drew his gun and flashlight as a safety precaution. That's when Gurley and his girlfriend -- identified by the New York Daily News as Melissa Butler -- also entered the stairwell.

At that moment, Liang fired one round from the eighth floor landing. Gurley, who was on the seventh floor landing, was struck in the chest.

Gurley and Butler then ran down the stairs before Gurley collapsed on the fifth floor. Under instructions from a 911 operator, Butler then tried to administer first aid. Gurley was transported to Brookdale Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Bratton said that according to a preliminary investigation, "it appears this may have been an accidental discharge." Gurley "was not engaged in any criminal activity of any type," Bratton said. more